Sheriff says he considers Victoryland Casino games legal

Attorney James Anderson, left, and Rich Williamson of BMM Test Labs demonstrate a bingo machine at Victoryland Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, in Shorter, Ala. Victoryland opened its doors to lawyers and officials to test bingo machines and speak to the media. (AP Photo/AL.com, Julie Bennett) MAGS OUT

AP

PHILLIP RAWLSAssociated Press

Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 4:01 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 10:38 p.m.

SHORTER — The Macon County sheriff gave his approval Wednesday to more than 1,000 gambling machines installed at VictoryLand in anticipation of the reopening of what was once Alabama’s largest casino.

Sheriff David Warren said the machines have electronic graphics with slot machine-like reels on them, but that’s only for entertaining customers.

In the sheriff’s view, a bingo card in the corner of the video screen and the electronic equipment inside make them different from illegal slot machines.

“Once you get past the eye candy, this is bingo,” he told reporters after a demonstration of the machines.

The sheriff regulates bingo in the county. At his request, BMM Test Labs of Las Vegas reviewed the computer software used to run the games, and it declared that they comply with Alabama law on bingo operations.

“These games are different from slot machines,” BMM’s Rich Williamson said Wednesday.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange issued a warning Wednesday that the same thing could happen to Victory-Land that happened to two casinos his office shut down earlier this year.

“I have worked hard to enforce the Alabama Supreme Court’s decisions and to end illegal gambling in an orderly fashion through the court system,” he said.

“I will continue to enforce the rule of law in a consistent manner statewide.”

Some counties in Alabama have passed constitutional amendments allowing bingo, but legal battles have developed in counties where the operations have gone from traditional paper bingo to machines with colorful graphics and sound effects.

VictoryLand, about 15 miles east of Montgomery, was once Alabama’s largest casino with more than 6,000 electronic games. It also was the largest employer and largest taxpayer in rural Macon County before closing in 2010 under pressure from then-Gov. Bob Riley.

Riley maintained that the games were illegal slots, while VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor called them legal bingo.

McGregor has been working to reopen his casino since he was acquitted in March on federal charges accusing him of trying to bribe legislators to pass pro-gambling legislation.

McGregor has not set an official opening date, but his attorney, Joe Espy, said he hopes to reopen before the end of the year.

Workers at VictoryLand are still prepping some of the machines. But Johnny Ford, mayor of nearby Tuskegee, said McGregor has already hired employees and started ordering supplies and that the reopening will be a windfall for the poor county.

“All we want for Christmas is 2,000 jobs back and millions for our schools,” he said.

The Macon County sheriff said he considered the old machines at VictoryLand legal and disagreed with the shutdown. The new machines at VictoryLand resemble the machines there in 2010, but they operate differently and are made by different manufacturers.

The old machines took cash. The new ones don’t. Players put money on a card resembling a bank ATM card and use it to play. The card identifies their winnings, which they pick up from a cashier.

The old machines were from major suppliers. But the attorney general reached an agreement with International Gaming Technologies, Bally Manufacturing and Multimedia Games in 2011 that allowed them to pull their games out of the shuttered VictoryLand and another closed casino in return for not returning to Alabama until the state’s highest court ruled electronic bingo legal or state law was changed to permit it.

Because of that, McGregor had to get games from smaller manufacturers.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in an electronic bingo case from Lowndes County that bingo players must announce their wins to other players. The new machines at VictoryLand automatically credit a win to a player. The sheriff’s attorney, James Anderson, said he doesn’t believe the Lowndes County case applies to Macon County.

During the legal battle over electronic bingo, casinos run by the Poarch Creek Indians in Wetumpka, Montgomery and Atmore have avoided any raids or legal action because they are federally regulated. Among them, they have nearly 2,500 machines.

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